International scientific conference at the University of Warsaw (Republic of Poland) “Polish-Ukrainian relations in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine: historical and contemporary contexts”

On April 11-12, 2024, the University of Warsaw hosted an international scientific conference “Polish-Ukrainian Relations in the Context of Russian Aggression against Ukraine: Historical and Contemporary Contexts”. The event was organized by the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw, and co-organized by the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, the Educational and Research Institute of International Relations, History and Philosophy of the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University, the M.S. Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeology and Source Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and the Museum of Polish Children Victims of Totalitarianism.

The National Aviation University was represented at the conference (online) by associate professors of the Department of History and Documentation of the Faculty of Linguistics and Social Communications Liudmyla Bozhuk and Lesia Khaletska. They presented a joint report “Initiative Documentation of the Events of the Russian-Ukrainian War (2022-2024) by the State Archives of Ukraine. Interaction with Polish partners”.

The conference began with plenary presentations and continued with breakout sessions. The presented research covered a wide range of issues of Ukrainian-Polish relations in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including solidarity, cooperation (including scientific), assistance to Ukrainian refugees, as well as issues of Polish-Ukrainian archival cooperation before and after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, documentation and research of war crimes.

The presentations of the conference participants were notable for their thoroughness of research on the chosen issues, as well as their emotionality. In particular, the following reports were presented:

• “The State Archives in Piotrkow Trybunalski - Polish-Ukrainian archival cooperation before and after the Russian aggression against Ukraine - some aspects” by Dr. Tomasz Matuszczak, director of the State Archives in Piotrkow Trybunalski;
• “Ukrainian-Polish relations in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022-2024): examples of solidarity and cooperation (academic aspect)” by Dr. Olga Morozova, professor of Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University, University of Warsaw;
• “Cooperation of the Adam Mickiewicz Faculty of Political Science and Journalism with Ukrainian universities in the context of full-scale Russian aggression - the power of empathy and the work of memory” by Dr. Bartosz Gordecki, professor of the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan;
• “Dynamics of Mutual Reception of Ukrainians and Poles as a Result of the Full-scale Russian-Ukrainian War” by Leonad Zashkilnyak, doctor of Historical Sciences, professor at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and Roman Martynchuk (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv);
• “The state of Polish-Ukrainian relations in public opinion in Poland and Ukraine after the Russian attack in 2022” by Dr. Antonina Kozyrska, professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń;
• “Experience of the State Archives of Mykolaiv Oblast in preserving archival funds in the context of military conflicts” by Kostyantyn Kartuzov, chief specialist of the State Archives of Mykolaiv Oblast, and others.

The section ended with a final discussion.